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Thursday, February 24, 2011

I just noticed this on the Ren Fest's Facebook page. It is this weekend. Wouldn't it be great to have a Celt or even the NWC tartan in the calendar. Hope some of you can go.

“CALLING ALL MEN in KILTS” Come on out to the Bay Area Renaissance Festival THIS WEEKEND-February 26 & 27 and join the fun. We will be photographing all the amazing “Men in Kilts” that come out. 12 of you will WIN a spot in our 2011-2012 calendars that will go on sale during this year’s show. Ladies c...ome out & support your men<>men come out & show your legs! INFO-800-779-4910.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

If you have been looking for the web sites where you can get New World Celt products, here are links to them:Original Cafe Press site

All of these sites have a great selection of designs and products.

Recently I got a request from our Heavy Athletes to order shirts that included a variety of styles, colors and different logos on the front and back. I ended up ordering them from another site, Customized Girl. To order from this site you will need to have the logos you want on the products to upload. I already have an account with the logos uploaded so if you are interested in their products, contact me l and I can place the order for you.

I try to continually add new products and designs to my gr8grafix sites so check them every so often. I usually put a notice on Facebook to keep everyone up to date on new stuff. Let me know if there are products, designs, or combinations of designs you would like to see. I can always add them.

My latest design is a logo for NWC Heavy Athletics. If there are other groups within the organization that would like to have their own logo, I can work on that too.

Notice that on Zazzle you can "customize" your products. For example, you can add your name and chapter to the front of a shirt where the logo is on the back. Let me know if you need help or if the combination you are looking for is not available. I'll see if it is possible to add it.

These web sites are intended for times when you are looking for small quantities of a product. If you need larger quantities, usually 6 or more of a shirt, it may be more economical to have them screen printed from a local company. Also, the Bradenton Chapter, Dunedin and others, order festival shirts in large quantities. If you are looking for a generic shirt that you can sell to the general public. Contact Erika Cox or me about these larger orders to see if anyone has shirts or is placing an order. If we order together we can get better prices. Erika and I are always available to answer your questions on marketing products.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Ok, ok, everyone wants information on the new banner we had at the Sarasota Games. So, here is the deal. VistaPrint.com, check it out. Get on their mailing list. They will send you e-mails for all kinds of free stuff. Don't ever pay more than 25% off with them, that is pretty much regular price on anything. Apparently they make their money on shipping. They have to make it somehow. However, you can save on shipping too, if you spend over $50. So, look at all they have to offer. How can your chapter use their products? If you look around our booth you will find all kinds of Vista Print stuff.

You can almost always get 100 small postcards free. We use them as informational fliers that have our meeting time, place, etc. on the back. We also get them in a large postcard, 50 free, with the same design

You can often get a small banner for free. We have one that hangs in our home pub that says "Home of the New World Celts Bradenton Chapter" and we also have one that we put up the week before our Kilt Nights that says "Kilt Night Saturday 6:30-9:30". You can get the banners in indoor and outdoor weight, but unless it is going to stay outside for extended periods, I don't know that you would need it. Also, you can get plastic hangers for the banners. I recommend you invest in a grommet gun or setter and put grommets in your banners. If you like the frames that Todd has made for our banners, they are just pvc pipe. Very easy to assemble and they pull apart in the middle for storage.

Free raffle sign and large postcard on the photo display

The raffle sign that we used at the tent was free. It is their small size. We also have a large one that was 50% off that says "Kilt Night Tonight". We put that out by the street at Rashers the day of Kilt Night.

Car magnets are usually free for one small or 50% off for large. I have the small ones on my car for my dance team and Todd has the chapter ones on his truck. He started out just using them in parades, but they were getting noticed, so he leaves them on all the time as advertising.

Other free stuff, hats, tote bags, T-shirts, bumper stickers and small magnets. I try to get anything I can and then we use it in our raffles or give them out to members. We used the business card size magnets as meeting reminders for our members. Come to think of it, time to order more of those.

Vista Print is even a good option for T-shirts. Last year for our camp out, I got full color printed shirts for $4.50 each. That only seems to work on regular t-shirts. On women's you only get the discount on the first one. Not sure why.

Ok, so you see all kinds of products that you can get for a great price and use for your chapter. Only one problem, right, you don't have anyone who knows anything about graphics or owns a copy of Photoshop. I guess this is where I come in. International has asked me to help all the chapters get these products. So, keeping in mind that I am a single working Mom of 2 teenagers that teaches Irish Dance 2 nights a week, I have agreed to help everyone out in my spare time. So, give me a call and we'll work something out. My normal rate for graphic design work is $25 an hour so if you want to make a donation to my dance team or just send me tickets to your next event...

Monday, January 31, 2011

We had a good meeting last night in Bradenton. The Sarasota Games brought in over $200 and a new member that attended the meeting. We got good comments from many of our members and friends/neighbors of members. All in all it was a great day and a successful attempt to bring back the Sarasota event. Peggy Hill is a member of the Games committee and will be taking our comments and suggestions back to the Scottish Heritage Society. What did you think? Let us know and I'll forward comments to Peggy.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

I don't know about you guys, but it seems like every venue for Highland Games is the most wide open wind swept place in town. How many times have you chased your display (and sometimes the tent) across a field? With the Sarasota Games just around the corner, I attempted to come up with a solution for the problem.

Here is what I came up with for under $30.

I purchased 2 melamine shelves and attached them to each other with 3 hinges.

To keep the shelves at an angle so they won't fall over, I attached some small "L" brackets to the edge next to the hinges.

The whole thing folds for transport, but is pretty heavy so it won't blow away.

I also added some brackets, ones I had left from another project, to the outside edges so it can be tethered to a tent post or peg in the ground. If you are purchasing something for this purpose, screw eyes would be ideal.

I used cool melt hot glue to attach the photos. It didn't damage the photos and I am hoping that they will peel off when we are ready to change them.

Welcome to Hail to the Celts, the blog space for New World Celts and the place to be for the latest news, information and discussions on and about Celts.

Do you have something you want other Celts to know? This is the place to post. Maybe you have found some great new history, shopping or events we would all be interested in. If you would like to be able to post, send an e-mail to southbaycelts@gmail.com and I will add you to the Author list.